Colorado Springs-area high school students and 200 other teens and their parents in 14 states are awaiting a Denver County District Court judge’s ruling on whether they can force a consolidated arbitration hearing to determine whether they should be refunded all their money for a canceled European music tour.

Students and parents are suing the Wheat Ridge-based Voyageurs International, LTD, a travel company that had arranged the trip, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, for not refunding all their money.

In filing court paperwork saying the company does not agree to a consolidated case, Voyageurs points to its contractual cancellation policy, which the company says “is not arbitrary” and “takes into account the time, activity and financial investments made for tours far in advance of its departure.”

A total of 3,000 student-musicians from around the nation paid a base fee of $6,345 each to participate in this summer’s Ambassadors of Music tour. Participants were to have visited and performed in London, Paris, Zermatt, Venice and Frankfurt.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, Voyageurs canceled the tour on March 17 and said the company was keeping $1,900 apiece as a cancellation fee.

That amounts to about $5.7 million, said Kim Shepherd, a Chicago-based spokeswoman for the claimants.

Filing separate complaints would cost students more than the amount that was withheld from the refund, she said.

Monument family out nearly $2,000 after travel company cancels European band trip

Voyageurs argues that participants were refunded different amounts based on their payment plans and excursions beyond the base tour, and it could not consider each case on a consolidated basis.

While parents and their children agreed the tours should be called off because of the pandemic, Shepherd said, they are disputing the amount of the refund. They believe the cancellation fee is unfair since the company called off the trip, not the families.

Students were nominated by their schools’ music department teachers to participate  in the European tour, and most had raised the money to go through car washes, bake sales and part-time jobs, Shepherd said.

Natalia Parker, a Monument parent of eight, said to have money for the trip, her son, Connor, sent out letters to neighbors, family and friends offering to work.

“While he did receive some gifts from people, he worked many hours doing yard work in our neighborhood, helping people move and doing car maintenance,” she said.

Matt Lessard of Colorado Springs earned trip money working as a golf caddy.

“Not only did the cancellation of the tour — and the withholding of $1,900 — leave Matt disappointed, he was unable to find a job to fill that time, adding to the frustration of having the money he earned last summer being withheld by Voyageurs,” said his dad, Don.

Monument parent Christina Cotton said she and her husband planned to see their son Jaden perform the trombone in Europe and booked a trip through a different company.

“Our prepayment was refunded in full by the travel company we used,” she said.

“The salt in the wound was Voyageurs keeping $1,900 of our money during a pandemic, especially when we were told verbally by the airline that Jaden’s airfare was refunded in full.”